Happy Hour in Austin
by dharmamonkey
Summary: A one-shot written in an hour.  Brennan meets retired Deputy Director Sam Cullen for drinks after a symposium in Austin, TX and they discuss Booth, the baby, etc. My response to the Bonesology site's "Odd Couple" challenge.


**A/N: **_ Hart Hanson owns _Bones, _but fanfic brings you all those great scenes that HH never will._

_This is my response to the "Odd Couple" challenge on the Bonesology forum. I banged this out in an hour over my lunch break. Hopefully it's not too messy. This may be my first Booth-less fanfic. Let me know how you like it. NOTE: Carlos & Charlie's is a real place in Austin on Lake Travis._

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><p>Sam Cullen leaned back in his chair and draped his arm over the wooden patio railing as he took a long sip of his Corona. He glanced down at the marina dock below and watched a small boat—a center console, open fisherman with a big 250hp motor on the back—approach the dock a little too quickly. He laughed as the skipper threw the boat's throttle in reverse to avoid slamming into the dock. He'd seen it a thousand times before and always wondered why, while a person had to take a driving test to be allowed to drive a car, all that was needed to pilot a boat was a checkbook.<p>

He looked over the gathering happy hour crowd at Carlos & Charlie's. It was a crisp October afternoon and the setting sun twinkled through the leaves and glittered like a thousand shards of glass across the breeze-blown surface of Lake Travis. It was the kind of afternoon that made him grateful that he had retired from the FBI and moved with his wife to Austin, away from the cold winters of Washington, D.C. and away from the painful memories that still lingered as he thought about his daughter's long and ultimately fatal illness five years earlier.

A familiar face walked onto the patio and Cullen stood up with a broad smile.

"Dr. Brennan," he said warmly, extending his hand in greeting before pulling her in for a gentle hug.

"Director Cullen," she replied with a toothy smile of her own, tucking a stray strand of her auburn hair behind her ear as she sat down.

"Please," he said. "Call me Sam. I'm off the clock—have been for years."

She laughed. "Call me Temperance," she said. "Or Tempe."

"It's nice to see you again, Temperance," he said.

"Same here, Sam," she replied, glancing over the drink menu card before setting it down again between the salt and pepper shakers.

"They make great margaritas here," Cullen noted. "Strong, but very good. If you're into that kind of thing," he said, gesturing with his Corona.

Brennan grinned. "Normally, I would be, but—"

Cullen glanced down at the gentle swell of her belly as she rubbed her hand over her navel, and a smile broke across his face. "Are you—?"

"Yes," she said. "I'm pregnant." She smiled, seeing in his observation that same kind of keen people skills that she had spent years admiring in her partner. "Booth's the father," she added.

Cullen laughed and smiled. "Can't say that I'm surprised," he said. "Just that it took you two so damn long. Well, that's great."

"Thanks," she said with a little puzzlement in her voice. It amused her that so many people had the same reaction to the news: on the one hand, enthusiastic congratulations, and on the other, a comment like "Well, finally!" or "It's about time" or the equivalent.

"Booth wasn't able to come with you?" Cullen asked.

She sighed and shook her head. "No, unfortunately. He had to go up to Philadelphia to interview a witness on a case he's working with another agent—now that I've been pulled from non-crime scene field work on account of my pregnancy—and they got an early snowstorm up there that caused them to cancel most of today's flights in and out of Philadelphia."

Brennan shrugged, disappointed that she had to travel without her partner for the first time in many months. She wondered if the pregnancy hormones had made her excessively emotional and sentimental, because she missed Booth terribly, even though they had only been apart for a couple of days.

"He's missed your big speech?" Cullen asked.

"It wasn't a speech, really," she explained. "I was on a panel this afternoon for this week's symposium on Law and Forensics at the University of Texas School of Law."

"Sounds like something Booth would've enjoyed," he said. "Actually, Booth probably could've been on that panel."

"I agree with you," she said in a serious tone. "But UT decided to invite the head of the FBI's Dallas field office instead."

Cullen rolled his eyes. He knew the the guy that ran the Dallas field office and had never been impressed.

"Booth's coming in on the first flight in tomorrow morning," she said with a smile she made no attempt to suppress. It felt good to finally be able to be open about her affections for Booth. "We decided to use this trip as an opportunity to enjoy what Booth calls a 'babymoon,' a last chance to go away together before I get too huge to enjoy it." She smiled, thinking how Booth continually reminded her how beautiful she was, even as her body seemed to be changing every day. "We're going to head down to San Antonio and spend the weekend there, then fly back out of San Antonio into Reagan on Tuesday."

"San Antonio is great—very romantic," Cullen said with a grin, emphasizing the last word knowing it probably made the good doctor squirm a little to hear it. "You'll enjoy it. When are you due?" he asked.

"February 15th," she answered. "Around Valentine's Day, as Booth likes to point out."

Cullen chuckled. "Booth always was a bit of a romantic," he laughed.

Brennan raised her eyebrow at that comment, wondering what kind of things Booth had done or said over the years that would lead his boss at the FBI to know about his romantic proclivities. She was going to ask Cullen about that, but a waitress, a young blonde in her early twenties, walked up to their table.

"Can I get you something, ma'am?" she asked. "We're running a two-for-one—oh…" The waitress smiled as she saw Brennan's hand on her rounded abdomen. "You probably don't want one of those drink specials," she quipped.

"No," Brennan replied. "Can I just get some unsweet tea?" She turned to Cullen. "I'm ravenous," she said with a sheepish grin. "Do they do nachos here?"

Cullen nodded. "Do they ever! This place has some of the best nachos in town—and Austin's a great town for nachos."

He looked at Brennan and smiled, noting how beautiful she looked. Granted, he'd noticed her beauty the very first time he met her—and noticed how, even then, his boy Booth had clearly staked her out as his territory, clearly enough that there wasn't a man at the Hoover who would even consider making a pass at his partner, knowing full well that they would be meeting the unfettered wrath of Agent Booth if they did—but he had to admit, the glow of pregnancy really suited her.

"Do you have chicken nachos?" Brennan asked the waitress. She looked over at Cullen and whispered, "I've been a vegetarian for years, but this baby is definitely Booth's—she's making me crave meat, and I can't deny her that."

"Yes, ma'am," the waitress said. "An unsweet tea, one order of chicken nachos, and another Corona?"

"Definitely," Cullen answered. "With lime," he added with a flash of his eyebrows.

The waitress nodded and walked away. Cullen took a long pull on his Corona and finished it off, setting the empty bottle on the table and turning back to Brennan.

"So I assume this means that you and Booth are finally official?" he asked with a smirk.

Brennan narrowed her eyes. "Why does everybody say it like that? 'Official'—as opposed to 'unofficial'?"

Cullen leaned back in his chair, tilted his head to the side and drummed his fingers on the wooden railing. "You really don't know?" he asked her, struggling to contain a laugh.

"Don't know what?" she asked.

"Temperance," he said, leveling his gaze and looking straight into her eyes. "The FBI has been convinced that you and Booth have been dating on the sly since 2006."

"Really?" she asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Of course," he laughed. "Why the hell do you think I forced the two of you to do all that partners therapy with Sweets?"

"Oh," she said quietly, then they both laughed. "Yes," she nodded. "We're 'offically' together. We share an apartment now. And we've obtained the Bureau's preliminary approval to continue working as partners when I'm back from maternity."

Cullen nodded approvingly. "Sweets?"

"He loves us," Brennan said, thinking of how she and Booth considered the young psychologist their baby duck, because he seemed to follow them around as if imprinted on them.

"I know," Cullen said, turning to accept a fresh Corona with lime from the waitress.

"He's a pain in the ass, though," she added.

"I know that, too," he said. He raised his Corona and tilted it towards her. "Hey," he said. "To you and Booth—and to your little girl."

"To us," she said. "And to our little carnivore."

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><p>Love it? Hate it?<br>**Please leave a review.**  
>It's the only way I get better.<br>And reviews motivate me to keep writing.

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